Someone here mentioned staying away from mutual funds. I can't find it now. But I have an issue with this.
I think the inherent diversification protection of funds in general is worth the cost. The bear market illustrates this. You can lose 90-100% of your investment easy in an individual stock and many have done so since the market peak in 2000. The S&P500 is down, what, 40%? And it seems today's "solid company" is tomorrow's accounting debacle. And a lot of still-'solid' companies are down much worse than the overall indices.
I'm a fan of index funds myself.
I think the inherent diversification protection of funds in general is worth the cost. The bear market illustrates this. You can lose 90-100% of your investment easy in an individual stock and many have done so since the market peak in 2000. The S&P500 is down, what, 40%? And it seems today's "solid company" is tomorrow's accounting debacle. And a lot of still-'solid' companies are down much worse than the overall indices.
I'm a fan of index funds myself.